The Optical Zonu BTS to DAS fiber link system known as ZonuConnect has recently added new features to it’s CloudView NMS management system. The optical chassis use a dedicated CWDM optical channel for Ethernet and SNMP communication for several generations. The internal data communication uses an SFP for this management backhaul. It has been a standard to use Optical Zonu proprietary uOTDR enabled SFPs for this functionality; but accessing the OTDR data has been cumbersome until now. New upgrades to the CloudView NMS system allow visual and graphical representation of the OTDR data to be overlaid on the management panel. After a ZonuConnect system is installed and setup correctly in CloudView NMS; the user can see any fiber reflections or faults clearly displayed on the map overlay.
The CloudView NMS system allows the user to map out the fiber path on a graphic map representation via a segment tool. Once the fiber path is mapped out, the latest generation of Cloudview NMS will automatically import the uOTDR data from the communications SFP. All events from the OTDR will be automatically overlaid on the graphic representation of the fiber path. This will not only show fiber faults, but will also show reflection events.
The ability to show reflection events in addition to fiber faults or breaks can be very useful for troubleshooting complicated or long transport installations. Even with clean fiber connections, patch panels can introduce the same amount of loss as more than a kilometer of fiber. The ability to see not only the number, but the locations of these patch panels can help reduce total fiber loss and achieve better performance in a BTS to DAS link.
The ability to graphically plot the locations of fiber faults can also be very useful in the event of an emergency service loss. During unexpected events such as an accidental fiber break it can be very difficult to reestablish service. Having the CloudView NMS graphical representation of the fiber fault location displayed on a map will immediately allow a targeted response to fix the broken fiber. This new CloudView NMS uOTDR SFP integration improves the functionality of the GUI and allows a faster response in the event of an unplanned emergency.